Tag Archives: courtesy

Mark Valladares

8 March 2024 – today’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Fri 8th March 2024 - 8:30 pm
  • Keegan remarks: Hardly surprising from gaffe prone minister
  • Khan’s Friday fares cut branded ‘pre-election gimmick’
  • McArthur writes to MSPs about timeline for assisted dying bill

Keegan remarks: Hardly surprising from gaffe prone minister

Responding to Gillian Keegan’s remarks at the Association of School and College Leaders conference, Liberal Democrat Education Spokesperson Munira Wilson MP said:

A Secretary of State talking about assaulting someone should be shocking, but for Gillian Keegan it’s just another day at the microphone.

Gillian Keegan has form and this is the latest gaff from a minister who has a potty mouth, an obviously quick temper and still thinks she is doing a good job. Hardly the qualities we should be instilling in our children.

Khan’s Friday fares cut branded ‘pre-election gimmick’

London Mayor Sadiq Khan’s Friday fares reduction trial has been branded a pre-election gimmick.

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Posted in London, News, Press releases and Scotland | Also tagged , , , and | 1 Comment
Geoff Reid

Civilised disagreement – a target for 2021?

By Geoff Reid | Mon 14th December 2020 - 9:53 am

Some while ago, I was taken to task on this site for declaring that people had been the victims of conmen before and after the 2016 referendum. Apparently this was highly insulting to leavers although I was trying to emphasise the pain that goes with being lied to deliberately and made to feel stupid. It was a generalised statement and I can’t ever remember saying to an individual “You’ve been taken for a ride.”

In my own council ward two-thirds of the referendum voters opted for Vote Leave. This does not mean we treat them with contempt nor vice versa. The voters at local elections carried on voting for us. Some of them actually said explicitly that they disagreed with us about the EU but they supported us for other reasons.

As we move into the economic pain that is inevitable in 2021, the last thing on our lips should be “We told you so.” There will be those who will continue to see the EU as the source of all their woes but since there are now Conservative MPs who realise that they were sold a dud in the election of a party leader there will be ordinary voters who will sooner or later come to the same conclusion.

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged | 10 Comments
Mark Valladares

23 November 2020 – welcome to my day…

By Mark Valladares | Mon 23rd November 2020 - 9:27 am

Well, I’m back after a week off. The sun is shining, although the valley floor is shrouded in mist after a frosty night, so it’s not a day to linger unless you’re properly wrapped up.

In truth, I’d taken a week off because much of the joy of Liberal Democrat Voice has been rather lost of late. Attempts to disrupt the site by the use of fake e-mail addresses and, if I’m honest, the sheer grinding unpleasantness of some of our readers, made me wonder if the effort that I, and my fellow Editorial Team members, put in is really worthwhile.

I’ve always seen this site as an opportunity for Liberal Democrats, supporters of the Party and those who are “Lib Dem curious” to debate and discuss the issues of the day, propose new policy and campaigning ideas, and generally engage positively with each other in a respectful manner. It seems that there are too many out there who see it as an opportunity to settle old scores, browbeat or misrepresent those they disagree with or simply treat others with disrespect. It is, from an editorial perspective, wearing at best, deeply disheartening at worst. And, for the spirits of a volunteer Editorial Team, that can be a bit corrosive.

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Posted in Site news | Also tagged and | 16 Comments
Mark Valladares

Welcome to my day – 1 January 2018: a (day) editorial thought for a New Year…

By Mark Valladares | Mon 1st January 2018 - 8:00 am

One of the unexpected advantages of being the Day Editor on New Year’s Day is that you can, perhaps, make a resolution for the year ahead. And nobody can stop you…

Mwah, hah, hah, hah…

And it dawns on me that, as the person technically responsible for moderation today, I have the tools at my disposal to actually change a small corner of the Internet, and make it a better place, if only for a little while. Call it “taking a stand for decency”, if you like. Or, as someone is bound to say, “censorship”… (you’re wrong, in the nicest possible …

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Posted in Site news | 34 Comments
Mark Valladares

Opinion: I disagree with you. You must be stupid, incompetent or a liar…

By Mark Valladares | Sun 18th August 2013 - 9:14 am

I have to admit that, after nearly two years of being involved with Liberal Democrat Voice, I find the level of ‘debate’ a bit disheartening sometimes. Personal attack, accusations of the basest of motives on the part of the people with whom an individual disagrees, avowed certainty based on wilfully partial and selective use of the available data, all of these tend to make for a rather depressing window on what is said to represent political debate in this country. Add to that the presumption of motive on behalf of someone who is unknown to the accuser other than via …

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Posted in Something for the Weekend | Also tagged | 102 Comments
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